Arrests Made After Incident At Dept. Of Education Meeting; Safety Concerns Raised Over Current Setup

Monthly board meetings at the State Department of Education have become increasingly tense. 

One education group said they’ve been asking the department to hold the meetings in a bigger room, saying the current setup is creating a tense and dangerous setting.

Two men were arrested Tuesday after an incident at the June meeting.

Both Leonard Scott and Edward Moore were arrested for obstructing or impeding passage with a state building. 

Moore also faces two charges for assault and battery, and Scott was also charged with “willfully disturbing state agency operations.”

Scott was seen in the lobby on the June 22nd meeting giving numbers out to people that came to attend the meeting. He is not employed with OSDE, and according to court documents, Scott told OHP that he thought this system would create order.

In most of the meetings, all the seats are filled, leaving many attendees standing outside in the hallway.

“We were starting to say, somebody's going to get hurt, emotions are high, there's people that are passionate on both sides,” Erika Wright, the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, said.

She has been attending State Board meetings for years.

“Since the administration has changed and we are now under Superintendent Ryan Walters, that crowd has been growing exponentially each month,” Wright said.

Wright said she could feel the tension growing over the last few months and tried to get the board meetings moved to a larger room. She suggested the History Center across the street. That’s also the location used for board meetings of the Virtual Charter School Board.

“By law, taxpayers and Oklahomans have to be able to have access to a reasonable room size that allows for safety and participation in these meetings,” Wright said. “Calls to move it for safety reasons and open meeting reasons have been ignored.” 

Wright said her 11-year-old daughter has typically gone to meetings with her, even going to speak during public comment from time to time.

“I can no longer bring her and feel like she will be safe,” said Wright. “So I have a real concern that we've got leadership in that building who is completely disregarding the parents and their children in the room and the safety of Oklahomans who want to be able to participate in these meetings,” Wright said.

Wright said she’s worried what will happen next if there’s not a change in venue.

“These crowds are only going to get larger and larger, but we really do need to have a reasonable sized space for people to be able to participate safely,” Wright said. 

There is a monthly board meeting scheduled for next Thursday in the same room. The OSDE communications staff said they do not have plans to change the location at this time.